Like this:

Say God sends His prophet to marry a whore…why will God ever do such a dumb thing?

God wants to send home a message to His people and that message is that He loves them; that it hurts to love and not be loved in turn. The message of love (grace) is more important than upholding the law.

So God sends His prophet to go get a taste of unrequited love and rejection.

God makes us a message so that we can speak the message with first hand experiential knowledge.

There is something about preaching your message, your own experience.

Prophet Hosea should be stoned for calling himself a prophet of God, yet playing around with a harlot. That is my own judgment on the matter. I’m a human being.

No! He won’t get a death sentence. His is an instruction directly from the throne room and grace from that same throne covers him. There is no telling what could happen to you if you try to get for yourself your own harlot.

We can imitate people’s actions but not the grace of God upon their lives.

He slept with a lady, killed her man and married her (David). He is the man after God’s heart.

He killed an Egyptian and fled into the desert (Moses). He is the great prophet and leader of Israel.

He ruthlessly and heartlessly persecuted and killed Christian (Saul of Tarsus). He is one of the most impactful people in history.

So what is this God up to?

It was never by qualification or self-righteousness. Our own righteousness is but like filthy rags in His eyes (Isaiah 64:6).

Say you do something really dumb, terrible and repugnant. Then you quickly retreat into your bedroom, fall on your knees and start imploring God’s mercy and forgiveness. But all this while you are actually begging Him not to release the thunder bolt and hailstones He’s preparing to rain down on you. You are trembling with fear, shame and guilt and you can’t look God in the face. You cry out in despair “Kill me Lord, I’m not worthy…I’m no good.”

While you are still kneeling there and waiting for the verdict you hear a sound somewhere deep within your spirit “…It is well, it is well with my soul…”

You quickly rebuke yourself for being so “stupid”. How can I be singing such a song when I’m supposed to hang myself for what I just did? You even apologize to God for such a bad conduct. Yet that song won’t go away. You feel like a miserable criminal awaiting a life sentence but your spirit is singing another song.

That is grace. Pure and unadulterated. Will you receive it?

I used to fight that gentle voice with every ounce of energy in me. Imagine I’m reeking of fear and then I hear my spirit singing “fear not…” I’m feeling really guilty and then all I hear is “it is well with my soul…” I’m dead worried about paying the bills, then all I hear is “all things are possible to those who believe”.

Then one day I realized I have been fighting against God’s grace. That “contrary” song welling up from within me is God’s message of grace to me in that situation. I don’t need to feel like that song before I can accept, believe and sing it. I just ignore my emotions and start to sing it out loud.

Grace does not condemn. It encourages us to say “yes” to God’s love.

I came from a background where I had to earn it all through hard work and good works.

Receiving God’s unmerited favor was quite an issue for me. I didn’t understand why God should just give me things, do things for me or pardon my folly without me having to do something to earn it. I always wanted to do something in return. Then one day God got tired of my wrong mindset and came up with a strategy just for me.

He let me mess up so badly and so many times that I thought “woe is me, I’m undone…I’m no good. I’m an embarrassment to you Lord; kill me so that I don’t bring more shame on you…”

I was kneeling there like a condemned criminal waiting for my sentencing. You know what? I instead heard that song “…it is well, it is well with my soul.”

You will ask me, does God condone sin then? No! His grace is bigger than His anger.

God will suspend one of the laws for a season, for a reason and for a person so that a bigger purpose can be achieved. That does not make Him unrighteous. It makes Him sovereign and very merciful.

When I waited for condemnation and all I got was love, I began to understand the depth of God’s love and grace for me. I’m a product of grace and I’m sent forth to spread the message of God’s grace.

When I expected rejection and rather got another round of God’s love that is when I began to understand the God I have been “serving” for years. I just realized I never knew Him before.

Since I was the kind of person who always wanted to fix it all on my own, God allowed situations in my life that neither money nor relationships, nor talents nor networking could ever solve. I mean impossible situations. I fought, I networked, and I prayed and fasted…no solution.

Then I learned the song… “I surrender all…”

For how long has God been trying to bring you to the end of yourself so that you can start trusting Him? For how long has He been trying to bring you to an understanding of His grace? How much longer will He stand with outstretched hands while you run about trying to fix it all by your own effort?

I invite you to sing with me…”I surrender all…”

You hate the white flag. You don’t want to see it, let alone use it. But for this situation God is telling you “pull the white flag my child. I can’t come to your rescue until you pull that white flag.”

Say God sends His prophet to marry a whore…why will God ever do such a dumb thing?

God wants to send home a message to His people and that message is that He loves them; that it hurts to love and not be loved in turn. To love someone and they are unfaithful to you is really painful.

The message of love (grace) is more important than upholding the law here.

So God sends His prophet to go get a taste of unrequited love and rejection.

God makes us a message so that we can speak the message with first hand experiential knowledge.

There is something about preaching your message, your own experience.

Prophet Hosea should be stoned for calling himself a prophet of God, yet playing around with a harlot. That is my own judgment on the matter. I’m a human being.

No! He won’t get a death sentence. His is an instruction directly from the throne room and grace from that same throne covers him. There is no telling what could happen to you if you try to get for yourself your own harlot.

We can imitate people’s actions but not the grace of God upon their lives.

He slept with a lady, killed her man and married her (David). He is the man after God’s heart.

He killed an Egyptian and fled into the desert (Moses). He is the great prophet and leader of Israel.

He ruthlessly and heartlessly persecuted and killed Christian (Saul of Tarsus). He is one of the most impactful people in history.

So what is this God up to?

It was never by qualification or self-righteousness. Our own righteousness is but like filthy rags in His eyes (Isaiah 64:6).